More than two-thirds of the surface of our planet is occupied by the ocean. Since ancient times, mankind has had a difficult relationship with it. The desire to dominate, to feel like a conqueror too often results in unforeseen and sad consequences.
An example of an offensive-aggressive attitude towards the aquatic environment is the Aral Sea. The catastrophe happened in the sixties, even half a century ago, it was the fourth largest among closed reservoirs after Victoria, the Great Lakes and the Caspian, two ports worked on its shores, industrial fishing was carried out, and tourists rested on the beaches. Today, unfortunately, this prosperity is reminded only of ships helplessly lying with keels in the sand. As a victory, such a completion of relations with the aquatic environment does not somehow call the language.
The ocean is harsh, it can be cruel. Disasters at sea have occurred since the teams of the first ships ventured to set off on a long and dangerous journey. Even experienced sailors know that luck is changeable, and therefore often believe in signs and are superstitious.
By the number of victims of the disaster at sea they are inferior to automobile traffic, rail and air transport, but from this they are no less scary. The death of the Titanic in 1912 (1503 victims), the liner Express of Ireland in 1914 (1012 victims), the pleasure boat Eastland (more than 1300 victims), the ferry Randas in 1947 (625 dead), the Taiping and Jin-Yuan ferries in 1949 (more than 1,500 sinking) - this is a short list of only the first half of the 20th century.
Later, other disasters occurred at sea, including the death of the nuclear submarines Thresher and Kursk. They have caused hundreds of human casualties.
Over the past three decades, sixteen large-tonnage tourist vessels have gone under water. For reasons of technical malfunction, due to errors, and sometimes neglect of important safety rules, the ferries Estonia, Costa Concordia perished.
Especially shocking are the disasters in the Black Sea, which is considered shallow and relatively safe. A mysterious peacetime explosion on the battleship Novorossiysk in 1955, which claimed the lives of 614 Soviet sailors, a collision with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev of the steamship Admiral Nakhimov (423 dead) are comparable to the losses caused by the death of the Lenin transport or a torpedoed transport under the fascist bombs Soviet boat of the German ship Goya in 1945.
Experienced sailors consider the most terrible of all possible causes of a disaster at sea, paradoxical as it sounds, a fire. It seems that the fire is easy to extinguish when there is so much water around, but it is not. In 1967, on board the aircraft carrier James Forrestal, an air-to-air missile launched spontaneously. Airplanes ready for combat missions caught fire, the fire brigade began to extinguish, but the ammunition self-ignited earlier than was prescribed by the regulations. Burning kerosene dripped from the broken tanks, which the sailors tried to extinguish with seawater. Since the sailors trained in fire fighting died in the explosion, the survivors did not know that this should not be done. As a result, the blazing fuel penetrated into the cubicles where the team members slept.
Will the list of those taken by the sea continue? How big will the losses be in the 21st century? We don’t know yet. It is only known for certain that the ocean does not forgive mistakes and carelessness.